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Shanghai International Circuit
Shanghai International Circuit | location = Jiading, Shanghai, China | length = 5.451 km | turns = 16 | record = 1:32.238 ( Michael Schumacher, , 2004) | firstgp = 2004 Chinese Grand Prix | lastgp = 2019 Chinese Grand Prix }} Shanghai International Circuit is a permanent motorsport race track in Jiading, Shanghai, China. Located. It hosts the Chinese Grand Prix, and has done so since the season, where the race was won by Rubens Barrichello. Circuit History The idea for the circuit came from a group seeking to publicize the Shanghai area for tourism and business. A joint venture company, underwritten by the provincial government, was formed for construction. A swampy area, about 30 km northwest of downtown, was selected for the location. The design group of Hermann Tilke was hired, and a course was laid out. Construction took about 18 months, with over 1,800 engineers and workers on site, on a budget equivalent to $450 million (£270 million in 2004). Circuit Layout Shanghai has had only one main layout since it was designed in 2003. It is inspired by the Chinese symbol shang (上), the first syllable of "Shanghai". It translates from Pinyin to mean either "on", "up" or "ascend", depending on context. The track is mostly flat, with only some minor elevation changes near turns 1/2, and near turns 9 and 10. The track begins with a 0.8 km pit straight, with the start/finish line at roughly the midpoint. The pits are on driver's right here, with a very large grandstand across the track. The first two bends are a sweeping 150° curve, made blind by a slight rise, followed by a sharply decreasing right that covers another 150°, and drops quickly downhill. It then immediately transitions to the pair of lefts constituting turns 3 and 4, which are flat and increasing in radius, and together turn the cars about 240°. A km straight follows with a tight but shallow right hand kink near the midpoint, known as Turn 5. . Jenson Button gets a tire change as Fernando Alonso goes by.]] Sector 2 begins just before Turn 6, a tight, 150° right hairpin at the end of the straight. a short and very gently bending to the right section is followed by Turn 7, a wide and high-G 120° lefthander. This is leads to Turn 8, a similar righthander with a slightly tighter radius. A short straight with heavy braking is before Turn 9, a fairly tight 110° left. Car placement is critical here, as after another short straight, the cars go through the quick Turn 10, a 70° left leading onto a km straight. Sector 3 begins at the end of the straight with the very tight 120° left Turn 11. And almost immediately the cars are into the Turn 12/13 complex, almost 300° of increasing radius right. This corner is critical for a good lap, because it leads directly onto the 1.2 km back straight, one of the longest straights left in F1. It's long enough that dueling cars have traded places more than once per lap here. It ends with a very tight, 150° hairpin right (Turn 14) followed almost immediately by Turn 15, another slight right kink. Flanked by grandstands on both sides, this is the best passing zone on the track, and the track is wide enough for the drivers to take both turns as one longer corner. Another shorter straight leads to Turn 16, the final corner. This is a very tight and technical 70° left, with leads back onto the pit straight. The entrance to the pits requires cars going straight on at 16, then making an equally tight and technical left towards the pits. This pit entry corner has caught out more than one driver, most notably costing Lewis Hamilton a championship in his rookie season. While the F1 configuration has remained unchanged, the owners have built several alternative sections for other needs. FIM motorcycles use an easier shortcut turn inside turns 5 and 6. And FIA touring cars and the Australian V-8 series cut out the 5/6/7 section entirely, diverting from the middle of Turn 4 to the entry of Turn 8, with a gentle S-bend in there to spice things up. Several other road sections near the back straight mean that nine possible configurations could possibly be created, with up to three in use at a time. Event history The following is a list of Formula One World Championship events held at the Shanghai International Circuit: Shanghai International Circuit in video games Notes Category:Circuits Category:Current Circuits Category:Chinese Grand Prix Category:Circuits that Débuted in 2004